Empire's Son: An Epic Science Fiction Novel Series

"Dad never explained to me why my brothers attacked me," I said.

"They were jealous of you because you had something they didn't," Mom explained.

I was almost afraid to ask, but I did so anyway. "And what's that?"

"You have a special Dome-ni called Perception. It is the ability to expand your awareness so you can comprehend and see connections that ordinarily elude others. It can apply to everything, from understanding the potential actions of others to how things are made and put together. Perception can even orchestrate a series of events in order to get people or a person to a certain outcome.

"It's what makes you such an excellent engineer, and why your dad created an atmosphere in which you could work in that field. Neither your dad nor I can give you the training needed to expand your talent at a higher level, but we wanted to at least provide you with a direction that gave you a solid foundation in your Perception ability."

My mind quickly deduced what she was skating around. "Wait. So, Dad created a business in technology to train this Dome-ni?"

My mother smiled. "There were several reasons your dad did that, but that was one of them, yes."

That made me sit back for a moment as I took that in. As far back as I could remember, I had a love of building things, but even more, the love of taking things apart to see how they worked. It never occurred to me that desire might stem from a special ability I possessed.

"It's a rather rare Dome-ni in Ethia," my mother said as she continued. "Your birth father has it, and when he found out you carried the same ability, he was eager to train you and have you follow in his footsteps. Michael, he wanted to make you his official Heir, his successor."

That hung there for a minute.

I wanted to laugh. The very idea of it seemed hilarious to me, and if my mom didn't have such a serious expression, I would have thought she was trying to pull one on me.

"You have to be kidding me," I said. "Yeah, hard pass."

"That's the thing, Michael. You didn't have a say in it. None of us did. Your father had made up his mind. Even though he'd been training one of your other brothers to take over for a while, once he found out about your ability, that didn't matter anymore. He wanted you, and that was it.

"So yes, part of why we left was because of your brothers, and your dad and I didn't think you would be safe anywhere near them. But it wasn't the only reason.

"We had been so happy before everything came out about your Perception Dome-ni. None of us was ready for the changes that happened afterward. It scared us, but even more, we just wanted things to go back to the way they were, when you and I were cast off by the Emperor. So I guess Arie and I were being selfish in that aspect. We didn't want to share you with the Empire."

The truth of her words rang in my ears and down to my soul. It was in that moment that I could feel it all. Her frustration. Her anger. Her desperation. Her heartbreak. In that moment, I found it hard to think, hard to breathe. It was like my heart and lungs had suddenly given up trying to work. The world around me started going black. I was losing myself in the crushing tide of emotion.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I heard my mother's words as if they were coming from a long distance. "Breathe, Michael. Don't think. Don't feel. Push everything away except for your breath. Focus on that."

It felt too hard, too encompassing, this turbulent ocean of emotion I found myself in. Only her voice anchored me, as it has always done throughout my life. It took a while as I sat there breathing deep inhales and exhales, but I could sense the tide turn as I came back to myself.

I opened my eyes to see the smiling face of my mother. "There you are. You are getting better at that."

I couldn't help but smile back. "Thanks, Mom."

She nodded. "And this leads me to the other reason we left Ethia. Yes, you have the Perception Dome-ni, but you have another as well. It's not very common for people to have two dominant abilities like you do. That's why the Perception Dome-ni wasn't diagnosed until you were five, because it was obvious you already had the Dome-ni of Empathy.

"That's why you sometimes get overwhelmed. You call them panic attacks, but what's really going on is that you are picking up emotions from others and sometimes even confusing them as your own. It becomes too much, and you start to shut down. I've done what I can to teach you to refocus on those sorts of situations, but true control of the Empathy Dome-ni can take decades to master.

"Unfortunately, the Emperor wasn't willing to consider that of your Empathic Dome-ni. He thought that your Perception superseded everything, and you would just get over your empathic abilities. I disagreed and tried to tell him that even though you had the same Dome-ni as he did, that your empathic side made you different, and that needed to be addressed, or your Perception would never be developed properly.

"Between your father's inability to listen to reason and the attack by your brothers, Arie and I deemed it necessary to take you away from all that. We understood you needed different things than what your father planned for you in order to succeed. So as we raised you, we tried to do everything we could to help you in that aspect."

My mother spread out her hands as if giving an offering. "And that is all of it. All the reasons we took you from Ethia, all the reasons we kept the truth from you, and all the reasons Arie must do as he is doing. And I will not apologize for any of it.

"You are my son, Michael. I love you, and as your mother, it is my job to protect you, especially since your birth father didn't seem to do a good job of that. I am just grateful that Arie chose to step up and take on that responsibility with me."

My mother placed her hands in her lap and looked at me, waiting for my response. But for the moment, I had none. It felt overwhelming, and I wasn't sure I understood it all. I felt like I was tied up in knots, uncertain what to do or say.

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It was so silent, I could hear the ticking of the kitchen clock. The steady tick tock a reminder that time was running out. I looked over at the rooster analog clock hanging over the sink. The black hands showed the time, and I calculated it had been nearly thirty minutes since dad had left. In just an hour and a half, he'd be gone, and out of our reach.

That thought sat there for a moment as I digested it. Dad would be gone, and from what I gathered, he'd never be coming back, possibly permanently. That thought didn't sit well with me, not at all.

I was raw and wounded at all the revelations, and I wasn't sure I'd ever fully be able to trust them again. But they were still my parents, and despite the lies, I found I still loved them very much. That hadn't changed, and honestly, I wasn't sure they could do anything to change that. The clarity of that strummed through me as something important clicked into place for me. I felt a resolve solidify inside me as I met my mother's gaze. I knew what I had to do next.

The steady ticking of the clock made my pulse race as I realized just how quickly I was running out of time.

"I have to stop him," I breathed in a rasping panic. "I have to stop him," I said again, but this time with more determination.

Mom shook her head as new tears began to fall down her cheeks. "You can't. You have to stay here with Emmaline and me. This is where you belong, Michael. This is your home."

Home. What a word. Until an hour ago, it seemed like a simple, yet firm idea fixed in my mind. I knew with absolute certainty where I belonged and where my home was. This house. This planet. I had known nothing else. Correction… I had not remembered anything else.

But I had another home. Another place I once belonged. A whole other galaxy where I had been born. Just because I didn't remember it didn't mean it wasn't still my home, my place of origin. And for the first time since my dad's revelation, the truth of it really sunk in.

I might live on this planet, but it is not where I am from. And the two people I thought I could trust the most were keeping me from knowing any of it. It stung, but I pushed that aside. There were more important things at stake than the bruised relationship between me and my parents.

"I want to know. Tell me what they are going to do to him," I demanded from my mother in an indifferent tone, because at this point it was the coldness that kept me anchored in the task ahead of me.

"You don't want to know," her voice cracked on the last word.

"Yes, I do," I said with as much cold venom as I could muster.

"Tell him, Mom. We want to know. We deserve to know." Emmaline spoke up from her barstool. Her face was as white as a sheet, but I could see the determination in her face as well. She was angry too. I could feel it, and I took a moment to digest that.

I could feel her emotion. This wasn't me just imagining things or thinking Emmaline might be feeling a certain way because of the way she looked or me projecting my own assumptions onto her. This feeling was genuine, and it wasn't mine, and it didn't need to be mine. It was just a product of my having something that Mom called a Dome-ni, and in making that simple realization, it was like an invisible barrier had immediately erected between us. I could still sense Emmaline's emotions, but I wasn't influenced by them like I had always been before.

I blinked in surprise. Holy shit.

I opened my mouth to tell Em and Mom of this amazing discovery, and maybe ask my mom some questions about it. But my sister's face was burning bright, and the emotion coming from her seemed more distinct somehow, like it had its own presence. It felt like my sister was a hot teapot ready to explode any moment, but I was unaffected.

My mother looked like she was going through her own breathing exercises to get herself to calm down. So I stayed silent as I watched them, enjoying the sudden calm that had come over me. Something had just shifted. Something important. And it felt good to sit here for a moment and appreciate it.

Finally, my mother calmed herself enough to speak. But she refused to meet mine or Emmaline's gaze.

"They will take him to Ghar­­––the Emperor. They may or may not start the torture before they get there. It depends on who's commanding the ship, but it's probably one of Ghar's most trusted commanders, so that means it will start right away. His men are quite loyal and ruthless. It's a long trip to Ethia, so…"

She trailed off for a moment, not wanting to continue, but I wasn't going to let her stop. I needed to know it all.

"And what about when he gets to Ethia?" I whispered.

"There will be a trial, but it will just be for show. Everyone knows what he did. Arie didn't even try to cover his tracks. Ghar will want to make this process as painful and as humiliating as possible, so it will be very public and a very degrading experience. You have to understand, Arie––your dad was a very respected man in Ethia before all this happened. Many people looked up to him, trusted him. Ghar will make sure all of those people know of your dad's treason, and the cost of it too. When Ghar is satisfied your dad has had proper humiliation, only then will he kill him."

I nodded after my mom went silent. Thankful she wasn't holding back, even though her words were starting to make me sweat. I looked at Emmaline; she looked like she might throw up any moment.

"Thank you for telling me the truth," I said in the uncomfortable silence.

I didn't like it, but there it was just the same, and it only strengthened my determination. I knew I had to do something. I couldn't allow all that to happen to my dad. Maybe he had done something wrong in the eyes of the Ethian Empire. Maybe he had done wrong by me by keeping this all a secret way past the time he should have, but he was still my dad. The man who raised me. The man who had loved me and sheltered me. The man––that for the majority of my life––I had looked up to. There was no way I was going to let it end for him like that. He deserved better than that.

I looked to my mother with a deep sadness at what I was about to do, but the resolve was already there and it was building, growing, expanding into the strength I needed to follow through with my conviction. I slid off my bar stool and went to my mother. I held her for a long moment. And then I kissed the top of her head.

"I love you."

"Oh Michael, I love you too," she sobbed into my arms.

I let her cry a little, and then I pulled myself away. I then turned to Emmaline. She was crying now, too. I held out my arms. She rushed into them, and I held her close. I could feel my heartbreaking, but my resolve kept me cold and kept me determined to what must be done, and my newfound barrier wasn't swayed an ounce by any of their emotions.

"It's going to be alright, little sis. I'm going to make this alright."

After a moment, I pulled her away from me and I looked deep into her eyes, trying to tell her what I was about to do without actually telling her. I couldn't let them know. They'd never let me go.

"I love you forever, baby girl."

She gave me a small smile at our little catchphrase we'd been using for as long as we both could remember. "Love you forever," she said back to me.

I nodded to Mom. "I need you to look after her for me. Can you do that?"

My sister nodded.

"Good."

I then turned toward the garage door and spotted the first stage of my plan––mom's purse. It was sitting on the small table right next to the house door that led into the garage, like it almost always did. At least this part would be easy.

I strolled toward the table, making sure my back was between the bag and my mom and Emmaline as I dipped my hand into the large tan Coach. It didn't take long to find what I was looking for. It was the biggest thing in the purse. I pulled it out, careful to keep the item in front of me and out of sight as I slipped over to the door to the garage.

"Where are you going?" Emmaline called out.

I didn't turn or stop. Complete determination was driving me now to see this through, no matter what. My dad's life was at stake.

"To right a wrong. Take care. I'll be back when I can," I said as I opened the door and stepped out of the house without a moment's delay.